You are here

Members of Congress Carolyn Maloney and Nydia Velazquez are blasting the Trump adminstration for a new directive that denies visas to some same-sex partners of U.S. foreign diplomats and United Nations employees.

The administration is requiring couples already in the United States to show proof that they’ve married by Dec. 31, or to leave the country within 30 days, Foreign Policy reported.

According to Foreign Policy, this means that at least 10 unmarried U.N. staffers currently in the U.S. will have to get married in order for their partner's visas to be extended.

Critics are slamming the move because only 12 percent of UN member states allow same-sex marriage; it's been legal in the U.S. nationally since 2015. Also, many of the member states not only permit same-sex marriage, but they have other anti-LGBT laws in place and publicly acknowleging one is gay could be life-threatening.

Rep.Maloney, who represents parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, slammed the move as "unacceptable."

She tweeted, "While the United States now honors marriages between same-sex couples, 88% of @UN member countries do not. And now the Trump Admin is punishing LGBT diplomats for it. Unacceptable."

Maloney's colleague, Rep. Velazquez, who also represents parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, said the directive "must be reversed."

"The Trump Admin. must realize that in 70+ countries, same-sex couples face punishment by law," she tweeted Tuesday. "By requiring same-sex partners of diplomats to show proof of marriage, the Trump @StateDept is creating a crisis that could rip families apart. Must be reversed."